Watching
the labour party conference last night I saw another tendency deep
within it. It was mot the remnants of the Blairites, nor the non
Corbynite parliamentary Labour party it was an inate conservatism
within the ranks of the GMB and Ynite Trade unions. Unite would not
look beyond the implications of jobs if Trident was scrapped. The GMB
was the same over fracking. You can still here members of the
Socialist Labour party rave about opening the mines again and of the
value of clean coal..a veritable contradiction in terms. Its the same
sort of conservatism that I saw yesterday within parts of Plaid
about their attitude to renewables and paryicularly wind energy.
Scotland is far ahead of Wa;es in renewable energy production because
of the lack of guts within both Labour and Plaid to support it.
We live in
a post industrial society, we must take on board the idea of a
citizens income that is paid to people because of where they live
rather than what they do. Poorer people and moderately paid people
spend more of their income in the locality, they support more local
services and they create more jobs because of this demand. The
wealthy, the large corporations are locked into the economy of mass
production, low wages and the race to the economic bottom. The
ordinary people are not the ones who will exhaust the finite
resources of the world that will be done by the large corporations
and the hypnosis of consumerism used to keep us quiet.
Corbyn and
MacDonald understand that and show signs of progress. The labour
Party is a coalition and within it lurks the unimaginative inner
conservative that has not joined up the thoughts of what society is,
how we are citizens irrespective of our work. A citizen income would
break up the right wing world view about the scrounger and the
migrant. It would show that all of us who live here are Welsh,
citizens and people who all contribute in numerous ways from economic
production, to wisdom and insight.
There has
never been a greater need for a Green party perhaps it will form part
of a progressive alliance. However the value of alliance can only
really happen if Plaid and others decide once and for all that they
are a decentralised socialist party and that independence for Wales
means far more than a Welsh brand of austerity or a Welsh “
aircraft-carrier” During the 20s and the 30s the Communist party
fed a creative current into the left within Wales as whole. Perhaps
this may be a role for the Greens in feeding these ideas into a
Cobymite Labour Party and to keep it honest creative and critical
The brutal
destruction of the Coal mines by the Thatcher government was a brutal
attack on the communities of Wales. The coal industry has shaped our
geography and our people but that is not all that Wales was and is.
The Coal mines needed gradually phasing out and its workers retrained
and given new opportunities. We must not romanticise the coal
industry it was important and essential to our development and
culture. We must challenge the inner conservative within that is
largely macho, male and industrial. We are in a different world and
there has never been more need of a Welsh Green Party that is
Ecosocialist and supports an independent Wales. It must be a Wales
within Europe and a non aligned, neutral country. Last year I summed
it up as follows.in the Seren2020 declaration. At the weekend Paul
Masson called for Scottish Labour members to support an independent
Scotland it upset the conservatives within and it must cause a
paroxysm of fear amongst the monolithic conservative members of Welsh
Labour. The Corbynistas have a long way to go in Wales
“Seren
Werdd 2020 "Our aim must be to create an Independent Welsh
Green party. We seek an independent socialist and green Wales. A
Wales where power is devolved to the lowest possible administrative
unit. A Wakes that is diverse, tolerant, open to all that does not
judge or impose conformity on lifestyle, beliefs or identity. A Wales
where its people are aware of it culture, history and language and
which is fully bilingual and multi cultural. A Wales that supports
workers rights, public services and a comprehensive welfare system. A
Wales that protects the rights of animals to be free from
exploitation. We are opposed to Nuclear Power and seek a Wales
powered by renewables that are owned by the communities of Wales. We
seek a Wales that is a non-aligned, neutral republic and which is
free from the arms industry".
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